Happy Birthday Tyler

So let’s just skip over the fact that I haven’t posted anything in months, shall we?  Great!

Why the sudden blog post?  This is a pretty good week in our family – we have two birthdays right in a row, and I would be remiss if I didn’t take the time to tell you about it.

My cousin Tyler turned 12 today.  I almost missed his birthday completely…but I promise I remembered!

 Can you even believe it?  Where has the time gone? 

 I still remember meeting you for the first time, Tyler.

Since it is a three and a half hour drive between our house and yours we weren’t able to be there when you were born.  It was several weeks later before we were able to make the trip and when we got there you were asleep!

We walked in the door and were immediately shushed because you were lying on a pallet on the floor in the den.  We dropped our bags (gently) in the middle of the doorway and tiptoed over to see you for the first time.  You were SO little and we instantly fell in love with you.  In fact, we loved you so much that after being in the car for almost 4 hours we sat right down around your blanket and just watched you sleep.  Nobody said anything – we just watched you breathe and smiled back and forth at each other, waiting for you to wake up.

Eventually we decided that it would be a LITTLE OVERWHELMING if you woke up and saw four strangers starring at you…so we moved to the other room and listened intently as your mom gave us all the details of your short life.

The next day we took the opportunity to watch you as your mom and sister did a little shopping.  She said that your tummy had been hurting lately and warned us that you might be a little fussy.  We didn’t mind – we were so excited to spend time with you.

It was a quiet day.  We passed you back and forth and tried to convince you that each of us would be your favorite when you were old enough to know us better.  You just looked at us like we were crazy.  After a while it was my turn.  I turned on the TV and the two of us curled up in Mamaw’s recliner.  You sat with me for a really long time without fussing once.  I was so proud, assuming of course that I WOULD be your favorite since you seemed to like me so much.

During one of the commercial breaks you started squirming a little so I decided to shift you to my other arm and see if you liked that better.

Tyler. 

I.  Was.  Wrong.

I was NOT your favorite.  You were not content because I was holding you lovingly in my arms.  You were happy because your tummy wasn’t hurting anymore.  And you started squirming because your diaper was full.

And Tyler, when I say that you had a full diaper, I mean that it was so full that it was OVER-FLOWING. 

It took 4 people to change that diaper, my friend.  Mamaw took you from me, holding you at arms’ length into the other room to change the actual diaper.  Uncle Charles went to look for something to clean the recliner and Aunt Debbie went to get me a towel.  After I got most of it off of me I went and got your dirty clothes from Mamaw and threw them, along with my own clothes, into the wash.  Then I quickly jumped in the shower.

It was a good thing that you were so cute!

This is the before…(please excuse my ridiculous hair!)

And we’ll call this the After.  Please note that we are both in different outfits!

We’ve come a long way, buddy.  The next several times that I got to see you we still curled up on the nearest couch or chair and read books, watched TV, or took walks around the house and porch. 

As you got older you started to develop a great sense of humor.  You’re always entertaining us with your own homemade jokes – and it is just as much a delight to see you now, as it was then.

But this post was not written just to tell a funny story.  Tyler, I want you to know that I am very proud of you.  I am so excited that you’re doing well.  It’s been a crazy year, and you have had a positive attitude through everything.  You are a very impressive young man.   You are a good brother and a good cousin.  I always look forward to traveling to De Queen and seeing you.

And I am SOOOO glad you’ve started learning to play the saxophone.  I hope that you have as much fun with that instrument as I did…

I love you, Tyler.  Happy Birthday!

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